Guo Pei – Bangkok International Fashion Week 2017

The dress that put Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei on the global map: A 25-kg. (55-lb.) number worn by Rihanna at the 2015 Met Ball. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

With the lines continuing to blur between ready-to-wear and haute couture, the idea of fashion as a fantastical game of dress-up seems to be more and more of a myth these days. Thankfully, Chinese designer Guo Pei has firmly entrenched herself in the latter category, with her 20-year-old company Rose Design boasting about 500 staff members and a recently established studio in Paris.

The lone non-Thai designer to show at the 2017 edition of Bangkok International Fashion Week, Guo’s haute couture offerings fall under one of two distinctions: those for posing and those for strutting. Her show was preceded by a model in the lobby of the Siam Paragon mall wearing the 2010 canary yellow gown made famous by Rihanna five years later at the Met Ball. Reportedly requiring 20 months of construction, the cape is a strikingly intricate creation of fur-lined embroidery.

Inside the tents, most – most – of Guo’s creations from the Fall/Winter 2016 collection originally presented in Paris were easier to walk in. The opening model found herself in some trouble with a dazzling long-sleeved, pearl-hued translucent gown that restricted her hip movement. Another looked awkward in sleeveless gown dominated by a blue ridged skirt emerging from her chest and armpits. Otherwise, the collection was a visually tantalizing portfolio of Guo’s signature touches from over the years – and more accessible and wearable than her “Met Ball gown.”